FoI has made the BBC rethink its spending

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Media law: 'FoI has made the BBC rethink its spending'

11 February 2009

By Owen Amos at the Press Gazette media law conference

The BBC could be 'the Freedom of Information Act's first major scalp' as its spending is made public, Press Gazette's media law conference heard this morning.

Matt Davis, director of news agency DataNews, said the corporation will cut budgets as more largesse is revealed.

He cited the BBC's accommodation bill during the 2006 World Cup in Germany - £1.6m – which was released under FoI laws.

"Do you think that sort of accommodation will be rubber-stamped next time?" he asked.

Davis also cited the BBC's Christmas party bill.

"Every year the figure has been headline news," he said. "In 2007, the bill was £250,000, with a £50 per head limit.

"This year, it was £60,000, with a £25 per head limit. Do you think that level of cutback would have come about without Freedom of Information?"

Davis said the BBC had embraced the FoI law, creating a team to answer questions, and setting up an FoI blog.

But he said the BBC had, initially, stopped much of its own information becoming public by citing "journalistic, artistic or literature" reasons.

Even the cost of running the Blue Peter Garden, Davis said, had been kept secret under this exemption.

But, gradually, what it keeps secret has been chipped away by a number of rulings – springing "leaks in the dyke".

The corporation could be "clinging to its information jewels with water gushing round its wellies," Davis said.

"If the BBC thought the level or scrutiny it gets now is bad, just wait," he added.

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FoI campaigners condemn MPs bid to hide expenses

FoI campaigners condemn MPs' bid to hide expenses



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15 January 2009
By PA Mediapoint, Press Gazette reporters

The Government has been accused of "disgraceful" behaviour after another bid was launched to sidestep a ruling ordering publication of details of MPs' expenses under Freedom of Information law.
The Commons authorities have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds scanning and redacting about a million receipts from claims since losing a lengthy FoI battle last May.
But none of them will be released under plans set out by Leader of the House Harriet Harman Image by Getty Images via Daylifethis afternoon.
Instead, the law will be changed retrospectively so that MPs' expenses are published annually under 26 categories, rather than the current 13.
"The public will have more information than they ever have before and we will take it back to 2005 so that for all members, each year their allowances against 26 headings will be made public," Harman told the Commons.
A spokesman for the Commons leader confirmed that if parliament approved the measures, the receipts would not be published - although the Information Tribunal and High Court had ordered that they should be.
But the House authorities said the process of redaction would continue at least until the proposals were passed.
Matthew Elliott of the TaxPayers' Alliance said: "It is an absolute disgrace that the Government are going to such absurd lengths to keep MPs' expenses secret from the very people who pay the bills.
"This is taxpayers' money, these are elected representatives and the people have a right to know how their money is being spent.
"These desperate measures will only harm Parliament's standing by making people wonder what it is that politicians have to hide."

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